action lab comic

Happy comicbooks Wednesday! I share with you a little proyect I have with my pal @danieruhuli, the anthropomorphization of our favorites comics publishing houses (and seals)! Hope you like it, and please make me know if you want us to design another one of your liking!

Still feeling responsible for the death of Emily’s girlfriend, Lila
goes off on her own to reflect on who she was and what she has become.

Ahoy there folks! You might of wondered why there has been less art activity on my blog recently. I’ve actually been busy working on comics full time! Here is my comic debut for Action Lab Danger Zone! I did the sketching and inks on this issue. Been a big fan of Dollface so working on it is a dream come true!

Happy friday peeps hope everyone is getting ready for the weekend. I have recently realised that my youngest cousins are starting to get into comics and follow in my footsteps. So I am currently on the hunt for kid friendly comics that are great for a young girls that are starting to become as fascinated with comics as I am.

On my hunt for some books to send to them for their upcoming birthday I found the awesome book Princeless. To describe this book in one sentance Princeless is the action/adventure graphic novel for the girl who’s tired of waiting to be rescued and ready to save herself ! So come join me and the Eisner-nominated team of Jeremy Whitley and M. Goodwin for a tale of swashbuckling in the face of sexism.

Princeless tells the story of Princess Adrienne, a strong-minded, brave, and intelligent black princess who questions and challenges expectations and stereotypes associated with princesses. From a young age, Adrienne resents any limitations placed on her as a princess and struggles against them in order to define her own role. On her 16th birthday she is tricked into imprisonment in a tower, as is the expected fate of any princess in the land. Instead of waiting for a prince to rescue her, Adrienne escapes from her tower with the aid of her guardian dragon, trades her dress and crown for armor and sword and sets out to rescue her six sisters from their own prisons.

Here is a sneak preview of just how amazing and confident Princess Adrienne is

Check out this limited edition cover (1/5) for the upcoming #1 Issue of “Miraculous Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir” – our first illustrated comic! This cover created by Sara Richards, the full book by Brian Hess and Action Lab Comics… Hits the street Wednesday, July,19th.

Welcome to the top 10 comics of the year, these are comics released in print in single issues. There is several comics I wanted to read that I had not got the chance to read in single issues so they won’t be included on this list. These are 10 damn fine comics I read this year and I hope if you haven’t read them you give it a look.

Squirrel Girl: A sadly declining star for me, last year Squirrel Girl was no doubt at the top of my lists but this year I feel a bit less engaged with it. This is actually pretty common around all of Marvel with Civil War 2, relaunches, universe changing event after universe changing event it makes it hard to feel attached. Still Squirrel Girl is full of laughs with some stand out stories that came out this year like dealing with Doctor Doom from the past after being sent further into the past. We also had the stand out choose your own adventure issue where subtly Koi Boi is revealed to be a trans man and that is super awesome!

Wic/Div: This comic is the serious, it is not tonely the same as the others but I adore it. We have gods walking among us on earth, mystery, betrayal, queerness, action, great designs, and a great book. If you want a story that is crafted masterfully and can invoke a wide range of emotions then The Wicked + The Divine is for you.

Space Battle Lunchtime: When Oni Press announced their new lineup this was the title that stuck out to me the most. Turns out my gut feeling was right as this book transports the reader to this new world of aliens that is fascinating to watch unfold. One creator managed with help from editors and what not to do the art, colors and storytelling for this epic cooking show in space. This is one of the most fun energetic books I have ever read. The only problem with this series is it goes by so fast but with only one issue left getting them all together is a great idea. If you want to watch a funny space cooking show and a cute lady on lady romance then come here.

Backstagers: This wasn’t a title I was expecting to even buy. I mean all boy lumberjanes sounds cute but I generally, as you’ll find on this list, don’t read stories about dudes. However, this book is fantastic, fun, queer, and all the great things that Lumberjanes is. I think Backstagers does an amazing job of dispelling the toxic masculinity present in much of male lead media. The creative world backstage is fantastic, it has such a great visual style and everyone who works on this project has everything in them in it.

Jem and the Holograms: The truly outrageous gift that just keeps giving. I love the story, Sophie is like my favorite artist and even with her leaving we have had some solid people taking over and there’s a lot of fun to be had with this series. I do worry about future placement but I am very excited for Misfits and this year is all about this year. With stand out scenes like Blaze coming out, the misfits and holograms working together, the cuties of a 3rd rival band, and more all in play this year I am at the front hoping they will let me on stage.

Princeless: Princeless is a modern classic, a series that every volume is great for all ages. This year I read a lot of Princeless, my little sister adored reading volume 1 for the first time. More then that I adored reading all the volumes and the short stories of Princeless. This is one that works for the whole family and manages to really go over a ton of great stuff. We have our hero learning new perspectives, saving people, exploring the world, she is a fantastic protagonist.

Kim and Kim: Kim and Kim the queer bffs that do that bounty hunting thing. They have amazing chemistry and are the kinds of loser badasses I love. They screw up a lot, they can be kind of an asshole but their hearts are in the right place. We follow them in one journey this year and it’s a fun journey to follow. Also like it has a trans writer and latnix gals on the art team so that is pretty badass too. This stories only problem is an ending that feels a bit rushed.

Jonesy: This was the biggest surprise for me comics wise in 2016. I saw it and was automatically charmed by the art. I decided it was worth risking wasting 4 bucks on. So i did and haven’t looked back since. The funny world, the endearing characters, the general feeling that this comic is different without trying hard to be. Jonesy is queer, she’s latnix, she’s funny, she’s a bit of a loser but in a way that makes you feel okay to be a loser too. Jonesy is a story that makes me happy whenever I read it, it’s always at the top of my stack, it’s a book that I can count on. The fact it isn’t number 1 but might be in my top 10 series of all time just says how great comics have been this year.

Raven the Pirate Princess: Raven the Pirate Princess is that book that no one really talks about but should be a staple of everyone’s pull. It’s so fun, funny, illustrated so well and it feels like a massive breath of fresh air. Amazing comedy, a bunch of queer ladies, women of all sizes, skin colors, and we even have some varying ability. It’s great to see so much diversity threaded into this epic scaling tale of a women trying to get what was stolen from her by her brothers.

Angela Queen of Hel: Angela Queen of Hel is one of my favorite stories of all time. It joins the hallowed ranks of other classics in my mind and despite a few issues moves far past them. The series being canned on issue 7 means so much potential was thrown away and we lost. This story is the most compelling romance I have ever read and it’s such a badass story too. Conquering hell to get your lesbian love back is super cool and then the follow up story is an awesome cap to show their relationship past the climax. No matter what Marvel does to the pair we will always have this story to look back on and cheer for.

For the action lab comics, they had to show Chat Noir on the roof overlooking Marinette and Evillustrator’s date, so– so the original shot was too small to get any good detail so they COPY AND PASTED CHAT NOIR SQUATTING ON THE ROOF FROM THE PRESS KIT I AM CRYING MY GOD

Cheryl Black, Nicole D'Andria, you’ve done a wonderful job with what you had available. And…. sometimes there are creative choices which are very enjoyable.

*stares at the Thomas’ credits* Most comics mention the name of the character's creator in the byline. Brian Hess is an artist under contract with Action Labs Entertainment, the comics license holder in the US. Nicole D’Andria, who wrote this story and adapted the scrip for the earlier photo comics that were produced by Action Lab, is the marketing director and submissions editor for the company. Considering Zag teased the fans about original comics last summer, I wouldn't call this a rush job.

Hooboy. Here comes a long post.

My issue with Thomas’ credits is that his last name, Astruc, is spelled “Atruc”. I’m know that they include the creator’s name because of, duh, of course you’re going to.

My beef with Zagtoons as a whole is that they take things down to the wire. There’s often animation errors like Chat Noir having two batons, or having to reuse character models over and over again because of budget restrictions (ie that’s why Theo is a catch all character for jobs and why Alya’s dad is suddenly the Animan zookeeper even though they had no interaction at all in that episode, particularly when Alya decided to date Nino in the exhibit. Like what?)

Not to mention that:
A) Brian Hess’ artwork does NOT fit the aesthetic of the show at ALL. This is not by any means a slam on his artwork, but it does mean that they probably had to turn to him after the other artists they approached declined. And if you can turn a project around in a tight deadline, you can work in comics.

B) Brian Hess’ work, when he has time to work on it, is significantly better than what we got.Once again this screams that he had a quick deadline, not that he decided to cut his abilities in half for a show he doesn’t like. C’mon. He’s a professional.

C) To get technical, the pacing of the action, the set up, and coherence of the comic is… it’s frankly really bad. So many panels don’t make sense, and poor Alya is like IMPRISONED to the right side of a panel while looking at her phone. Lines of action are bad (like one kid literally has speed lines to say “Hey, I’m moving!”) It’s messy and, once again to be frank, boring to read. The pacing of some of his other work is beautiful, once again pointing to a short timeline.

D) As a friend pointed this out for me:For a LaCrosse based akuma, why is there this watch just liked SHOEHORNED into this theme? Answer: Because they can use duplicate frames. A time-bending lacrosse villain doesn’t make sense outside of “Oh shit I have two weeks to do this”.

So all my beefs with Zagtoon fall back on the company itself and not any of the artists or animators.

Just one of the scenes from PRINCELESS that makes it a must read. Funny, well-written and realized, with an important (essential) message. If this comic was put in the hands of… well, everyone (young and old ), it would have more impact than any number of angry internet debates.

Now that we’re three issues into Princeless: Raven the Pirate Princess you’ve finally met all of our core cast and at least gotten a glimpse of everybody in the crew. so we wanted to share with you the designs for all of the characters in the crew.

Up top we have a lineup of the core cast for book 1. From left to right:

Raven Xingtao (casual)

Raven Xingtao (captain)

Sunshine Alexander (rogue)

Sunshine Alexander (dancer)

Ximena Santos (don’t worry, she’ll have more outfits later!)

Katie Kling (she pretty much always dresses like this)

Jayla Cook (she thinks clothes are stupid)

Cookie Cook (Jayla’s Dad, not going sailing)

The bottom row is the full crew, whom, assuming the book continues long enough (read: you keep buying it) will all have a chance to shine eventually. Rather than me telling you everything all bout all of them, which could take up many such posts, why don’t we do this a different way. If you have questions about any of the characters, ask me! As long as the answer isn’t a plot spoiler, I’ll tell you. What do you want to know?